Handle Basket, c. 1910

Basic geometric shapes and bodies like rectangle, square, oval, and sphere define this compact brass handle basket. With its reduced design vocabulary, it seamlessly aligns with other designs of Viennese Jugendstil, the Wiener Werkstätte and in particular the school of Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956). As the object has no marks, its maker cannot be unequivocally identified. The design may possibly come from the St. Pölten, Lower Austria, based architect and designer Hans Ofner (1880–1939). He studied at the Vienna Arts and Crafts School under Josef Hoffman between 1903 and 1906 and is considered an independently working yet faithful pupil of the co-founder of the Wiener Werkstätte. Ofner’s designs were produced by the two most important local metalware manufacturers, Argentor Werke Rust & Hentzel and the company of Wolkenstein & Glückselig. A glass inset bowl for sweets that this piece of tableware once presumably contained is missing today.

MR, 2021